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I was afraid of the PPV buy rate since it's their first venture. But adding the lack of ticket sales spells disaster for this event. Especially with Rampage and Tito's salaries and (presumed) PPV points. I also would like to know if Alvarez gets PPV points at well since Bellator said they matched UFC's offer, which included points.

They will have to pay Alvarez points.... though it's going to be a pretty meager amount in comparison to what he would have made on any UFC ppv he was a part of.

Kind of sucks for for him that he is losing out on more money over this after sitting as long as he had to. Moving forward the UFC will be able to at least if the UFC signs someone else to a similar contract they will at least be able to point to Bellator's ppv numbers in comparison to theirs.

How long did the UFC bleed red ink before it started to make money? With Viacom money, anything is possible.

With that said, whats the chances Glory is a hit on Spike and they just decide to drop Bellator all together?

This. People forget that the UFC nearly died before they hit it big. They stuck with it. Bellator has a good program and good fighters. Are they "Elite"? honestly who knows? It's not like they are allowed to compete against UFC fighters. But they have a big obstacle to overcome, the UFC has built it's brand to encompass the sport. Just like the NFL has done for football. Bellator would be better served becoming more like college football than trying to compete with that Brand, even if they had the better fighters. There's no way to prove it and no one would believe them anyway. Better to play second fiddle and putting on amazing fights week after week. Eventually they can catch fire and get more exposure. They should definitely build a relationship with ESPN now that the UFC is doing Fox Sports 1. It's all about perception, unfortunately in what should be the most competitive sport in the world, TRUE competition takes a back seat to business brands. To think of all the amazing fights we'll never see...

"I don't call the fighting in my films 'violent', I call it 'action'. An action film borders between fantasy and reality. If I were to be completely realistic in my films, you would call me a violent, bloody man. I would simply destroy my opponent by tearing his guts out. I wouldn't do it so artistically." ~Bruce Lee

This. People forget that the UFC nearly died before they hit it big. They stuck with it. Bellator has a good program and good fighters. Are they "Elite"? honestly who knows? It's not like they are allowed to compete against UFC fighters. But they have a big obstacle to overcome, the UFC has built it's brand to encompass the sport. Just like the NFL has done for football. Bellator would be better served becoming more like college football than trying to compete with that Brand, even if they had the better fighters. There's no way to prove it and no one would believe them anyway. Better to play second fiddle and putting on amazing fights week after week. Eventually they can catch fire and get more exposure. They should definitely build a relationship with ESPN now that the UFC is doing Fox Sports 1. It's all about perception, unfortunately in what should be the most competitive sport in the world, TRUE competition takes a back seat to business brands. To think of all the amazing fights we'll never see...

But the UFC was not over paying for talent. During that time the best fighter on the planet was Matt Hughes and he was making 15K to show and 15K to win. Bellator just paid Chieck Kongo, barely a top 20 HW if that, 75K. I can only imagine the contract Rampage and Tito are pulling in.

If they decided to just focus on up and coming talent they could have gotten away without paying fighters a ton of money. But instead they decided to go toe to toe with the UFC and they are about to get KTFO.

Dude, I’m a wrestler. I’m the best wrestler in MMA. Wrestling IS, was and always has been the most dominate form of mix martial art on the planet. That’s all there is to it. We all know it, some people want to fight it, some people want doubt it but wresters rule the MMA world. -
Ben Askren

I'm just disappointed that chandler vs alverez isn't the main event. Imo Chandler vs Alverez is the pinnacle of what what Bellator has to offer. Instead they jumped ship and are trying to cash in on the ex ufc fighter train.